Very beautiful contrasting scenes - the coast of Ireland and NYV. Really great pictures. This is one of my favourite threads, I think... Also: An Omnian?
Turning back history After a gap of about 5 years, I dug out my old SLR to see if it was still in the land of the living. It took me two days to find , having hidden itself at the back of a cupboard disguised as a camera bag, of all things. How are you supposed to find the thing you're looking for when it looks just like the thing you're looking for? Surprise indeed when I opened it up and found the batteries were still good in the camera and the motor-wind. Lucky for me, and well done the famous electrical bunny :bunny: Thats the black and copper coloured ones! Yes, it's all there. Ricoh XR-P with the 28-70 macro/zoom and the 70-210 macro/zoom lenses. A beautiful piece of German electronics in the form of my 'industrial strength' Metz 420 flashunit. Capable of illuminating an Olympic size swimming pool without any other lighting. The selection of filters I used to use for certain effects and even some old, un-used rolls of film, not counting the one still inside the camera. I wonder what's on that? Well, I think I'm going to have some fun getting used to the 'Beast' again having become almost totally reliant on my little digital compact. I'll have to check out the rest of my stuff, if I can find it. Surprisingly, I have an old English Ensign which I used to use for large format pictures. Remember the size 120 and 620 roll films. Hmmm, maybe not! More of that when I find it. So, fully dusted and cleaned, the beast starts the journey out of nostalgia, dressed in its journalistic outfit. At a total weight of around 9lbs (4Kg). I'm really looking forward to macro shots from about 2 metres away. Especially useful considering my arachnopobia. The extreme close-ups from 100 metres away. Especially useful if the bikini clad girl has a gorilla for a boyfriend. Full and independent control over aperture and shutter for a change. Ahhh. Life is wonderful.
Just to cheer you up Kat, I was recently offered £30 for the camera, both lenses(es)* and all the accessories by a local camera shop as part-payment on a £400 digital 'replacement'. The camera and lenses(es) are almost 30 years old and were working perfectly six years ago when I got my first digital and put the analogue into storage. You can pick one of these up on eBay for about £25-£40. If you want to see what it can do check this out in Wikipaedia at the time it was a good mid-price camera. *I have the same trouble as Nanny Ogg with banananananas
And I got a good Minolta SLR for 25 Euros at ebay... I already had three lenses for it, though, but still, that's ridiculously cheap. Here are a few autumn pictures, and a few from the Zwiebelfest (Onion Festival): Ferris wheel Ferris wheel 2 Those are onion braids... or onion ropes? My daughter, anonymized by cotton candy Onions, garlic, and dried flowers, made into room decoration - I'm thinking of getting one for the door so i can show I'm trying to fit in! That special light October has...
Nice photos Hsing, I'm now craving for a portion of cotton candy. I honestly think the English could have a lot more fun if they took the time to organize different celebrations and events instead of lumping them all together over one weekend as a Harvest Festival... Imagines scene... Naw! I just can't see a Cucumber Sandwich weekend or a National Egg & Cress day; not without the relish as well. To save two posts, I'll include this weekends photo offering... Professor Plum - Bedroom - Wrench !
What a curious choice for a toy! That cat plans something evil. That, or she's going to fix the plumbing in a very cute way.
Oh, lol! :bunny: What kind of container carries the sticker "No bomb please"? Here's someone Joculator has already seen. It's a street artist holding the world (including himself) in his hands... Plus my entry for Joculator's competition on his board for photographers and folk friends, the theme being "Glass". The street artists crossed my lens a bit too late for that one...
Wow Hsing, lovely pics as ever ! The "no bomb" sticker is on a postbox, a special one for bulk company packages of mail, rather than the usual slot ones for public individual letters...
I know I always post variations of the same pic, but I just love walking past this view every morning, it makes the whole commute worth while...
Dawn... I just walked back up the beach on my way back from the kids christmas party at work today, just as the sun was setting and the moon was out, sky pink as a strawberry lollipop... Gorgeous!
Dublin gets all the cool artwork...:sad:...out here in the sticks, we have to make do with car-wrecks and interesting piles of rubbish. Nice pic though!
Sticks...??? I hate to tell ya Kat, but out here in Deliverance Country, basically anything on the east coast ranging from about Dundalk down to Wicklow town = Dublin
From my Holidays in November - finally found out how to do it non-thumbnail. (thanks to Joc's little 'just paste the link' bit. I was using the manage attachments thingie - thanks Joc) Words cannot express just how steep that was. I had to hang on to the viewing telescope just to take the pic! Timanfaya! I just love saying that word. Volcano ahoy! I also took loads of pics of the sea for the last photo comp, but was too late to answer. I will post one. Just one (mainly because they are all out of focus. Darn my shaking hand!) Ok, two...
This is my youngest niece pointedly ignoring me while she watches tv. And these are my two girls. Love them to death and could sometimes kill them. Cali is on the left and Sheeba on the right.
Cali And Sheeba are so cool Red, but what are those box-like things around their necks? Are they those water-spray training devices or something? R.
Surely they are their wallets? Or the key to the secret hiding places around the place where they hide their clothes for when they become human again?
Wrong on both counts, but Kat was closer. They are hyper-dimensional transporter boxes. They really aren't dogs at all, but that was the most comfortable appearance that they could find when they came to earth. Or they could be underground radio-frequency fence collars. I think I'll stay with the first one.
I'd stick with the first one, too. I mean, come on! Whoever heard of underground radio-frequency fence collars. Mazekin Scoffs at the idea of it! My friend and I went for a long walk in the nearby woods today and nearly froze our collective toes off. Honestly! By the time we got to the top of the hill, I couldn't feel my toes! So below is the reward I got. A couple of pictures, a cup of tea and half a twix. And the ability to laugh at my friend who decided that walking with no hat, scarf or gloves was a bright idea...although, come to think of it, her toes were warm...stupid runners with their fabric and breathablity...:sad:
I got a new camera for Christmas, a Nikon L18. The next day I dropped it and the lens wouldn't extend straight. Took it to a camera shop and the cost to fix it was more than the cost to buy a new camera so my mom returned it and all the extra stuff it came with to the person she bought it off on eBay and they sent me all new stuff and I got it in the mail right before I was supposed to leave to go back to school. Perfect timing. The only pictures I've really taken are of my dogs and cat and I'd put them up but I'm on a computer in the school computer lab because I also have a broken laptop that isn't done being repaired yet and I won't get it back till February.
Here's a very random one. I stood and gawped at this window and the size and colour of those meringus for about 10 minutes.
Not such a random shot, but a good story behind it. Last week, Joculatrix, at work in the Biological Science block, met an elderly couple wandering the corridors looking for 'the person in charge'. They'd come to report that they'd seen one of the department's 'specimens' on the riverbank in the city centre and were a little concerned. They'd spotted a crocodile on the opposite bank of the river from their hotel room and didn't want to start a panic by going to the police or RSPCA. As she knew I was in town, together with the wonders of mobile phones, I was on the case within a few minutes. (I'm sure she's after my insurance money!) I can see how they made the error...
Oh, thanks. :lol: It is a Panasonic DMC-FZ50. Not one of the quite expensive ones... but still the most expensive one I have ever owned.
Nice mug! I'm sure it matches your walls (which, in fairness, isn't a hard thing to do). I seem to have reached an age where i'm appreciative of crockery and kitchen utensils. Even furniture. It wasn't that long ago that my idea of hell was a furniture shop, but now I love wandering around in them. I even bought an iron the other day! Still, i draw the line at carpets.
I took this picture in Dresden when I was there last year. When I got back to my computer I couldn't believe the quality: I took it on my mobile! Although that said, my mobile is a Nokia Slide, with a Carl Zeiss optimized lens... I have a few more that I took, they're on Picasa here
I do love that city. I need to visit it at summer. I missed the flower gardens being in bloom last time, seeing as I was only there for January. :sad:
I'm planning to go there soon, that and Leipzig - it's a shame I haven't been there yet, seeing we now live so close by it. Thanks for reminding me, willbaforce!
Just one of the many many pics I took in Cork, but I just love it, so thought I'd share... The rest of the pics are here: Weekend in Cork - a set on Flickr
1. Kat, you have a great eye 2. They were great photos 3. Why do I not see a picture of you kissing the Blarney Stone? I'm pretty sure I saw a picture of Blarney Castle*, but no Blarney Stone...Kat, I'm in shock if you didn't...it's tradition!! *My castle recognition may be slightly off as I haven't been there since I was 12...but I'm pretty sure it was Blarney Castle...
1 & 2: Why thank you! 3: I did go up there, but poor Reg got a severe bout of vertigo half way up those crazy-arse stairs and had to go back down. He certainly wouldn't have been able to get all the way to the top, as I only just managed to, and I don't have vertigo at all! So there was nobody to take the pic except for the professional guy from the castle, and there was no way I was gonna pay €10 for a pic of me in an embarassing position, especially after paying as much each just to get in to the place!. The second I kissed it, it started to rain. Dunno what that's supposed to mean. Probably just that Blarney is in Ireland.
By the way, for those who don't know what and where the Blarney stone is, it's the lowest stone on the outer wall of the hole on the right hand side of this pic. yep, that bit right at the top. You have to climb up an insanely steep, old, broken, tight staircase to the top of the tower, and then to kiss the damn thing, you have to lie down on you back and be lowered down into a hole in the rampart wall over a sheer drop with only a couple of iron bars for security. And then on the way down, the stairs are nice and wide, and have a very decent handrail. Meh? Here's what Wikipedia says: Blarney Stone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia including the theory that it may be half of the Stone of Scone... Dwarf Bread!
Pretty much, yeah. Kissing it is fun! Ok, I did make my dad hold me as well as the guy that works there...trust is an awesome thing, but it was a fantastic experience to hang over the drop and stare, upside down, at the ground far, far, far below. Worthwhile experience for all the family!
This is the bridge to the island my brother is living on. You can barely see it because the tide is in and it is mostly covered. And this is the actual bridge at low tide. And just in case you aren't completely bored by now, this is a picture of trees in Cratloe woods near home.
I agree. That means you should come to Ireland. Via Dublin. Oh, and you can bring the baby if you like.
I'm thinking Hsing may have summoned darker powers with her chioice of subject for this month's photo competition. Going through some shots I took last year, trying to find inspiration for a suitable setting, I came across this shot taken at the church right next to the cathedral. Judge for yourselves... but does that area in the stonework at the left of the photo look like someone playing an organ or piano? I've roughly outlined it in the inset and it has me convinced.
Yes, I can see him! (There are people out there who do this for a hobby. The human brain is a spooky thing. I also like the idea that I have the ability to "summon darker powers". Muahahaha!)